Local

Wednesday afternoon update: Power slowly returns Many Litchfield County residents still without power

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Litchfield County residents learned good news is relative after Hurricane Sandy.

By 10 Tuesday night, 76 percent of Connecticut Light & Power customers remained without power in Norfolk — but that was better than the 100 percent blackout the town suffered since Monday evening. That number had improved by this morning, at 47 percent by 10 a.m. By 3 p.m. that improved to 22 percent.

Other towns saw some improvement in the woodsy Litchfield Hills, such as Harwinton, with 45 percent of people still without power as of 10 p.m. That was better than the 67 percent who remained without juice since about 7 the night before, but it was a number that remained this morning. Harwinton at 3 p.m. remained stalled at 45 percent.

Colebrook's power situation late Tuesday night was a meager improvement — from nearly the entire town to 84 percent still in the dark Tuesday night. By today, 60 percent still awaited power. By 3 p.m. that dropped to 55 percent and by 4 p.m. it dropped further to 30 percent. The town had a notice posted on its website warning residents that Connecticut Light & Power has begun reenergizing power lines there. First Selectman Thomas McKeon said crews were working hard Wednesday and made significant progress.

Bridgewater remained stuck with 98 percent of customers facing what could be days without power. That number had improved to 47 by this morning and it held at 47 percent through 3 p.m.

Salisbury, which up to about 2:30 p.m. was 92 percent in the dark began improving. By 3 p.m. the number without power dropped sharply to 42 percent. By 4 p.m. 39 percent of Salisbury remained without power.

Still, overall, the post-Sandy mood was positive across the county Tuesday, as roads were cleared and generators hummed.

A glance around the county:

Norfolk Downed trees down kept crews busy with cleanup and not restoring power on Tuesday. The entire town lost power Monday, and by 10 p.m. Tuesday, CL&P reported 2 percent had their power restored.

"Trees are still falling," said First Selectman Susan Dyer, about 1 p.m. Tuesday. "What we thought was open is back to being closed."

Botelle School was open Tuesday for people to warm up and charge their cellphone, and will be open again today from 9 a.m. to noon.

Nuhi Sadiku, co-owner of Mizza's Pizza, was ready for a busy night. The pizza shop had a generator roaring to power the lights, refrigerator and freezer. Their oven is powered by gas. By lunch time, there hadn't been many takers. "I was busy last storm," Sadiku said, hopeful.

New Hartford: More than a dozen roads remains blocked late Tuesday afternoon, mostly in the western part of the town. All state roads through town are open.

Crews from CL&P and some contractors worked all day Tuesday clearing up roads, and New Hartford First Selectman Daniel V. Jerram said he hopes the crews can make the shift from clearing up to restoring power by early today. Jerram said the town escaped major damage, and most trees toppled between 3 and 6 p.m. Monday. Forty percent of customers remained without power as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Barkhamsted: Tuesday, along with electricity being out for much of the town, AT&T Wireless customers were experiencing problems with service, according to Barkhamsted First Selectman Donald S. Stein. Stein isn't sure what was causing the problem with the cell service but suspects the company didn't have a generator backup. Town Hall is available for people to charge cell phones or laptops. By Tuesday night, 25 percent of CL&P's customers in town were without power.

Torrington: Mayor Ryan J. Bingham lifted the state of emergency issued Monday. The city peaked at 24 percent of customers out; by Tuesday night, that number stood at 5 percent. No one ever showed up at a shelter at the Sullivan Senior Center.

Winsted: Steve Williams, civil preparedness director, said on Tuesday that line crews from CL&P remained in "make safe" mode, meaning they're working to get all roads in town passable and safe for emergency vehicles, rather than restoring power. As of Tuesday night, 22 percent of Winchester customers remained without power.

At 6 Colony Drive, Kyle Kramek with his wife and son Monday night when a tree fell on the house about 8 p.m. Monday. "My wife and son were sitting in the living room reading (by candlelight) ... when it hit. It scared the bejesus out of them," Kramek said.

Tuesday, Kramek worked the phones, trying to get someone to remove the tree.

"The hardest part is the confusion of trying to figure out who you call first. CL&P can't do anything until the tree guy and the tree guy can't do anything until the power is out," said Kramet, who had power to his home.

At one point, 80 percent of the town was without power. That number dropped to 39 percent by day's end.

Roxbury: Halloween activities scheduled for tonight are being postponed, in part due to fallen trees and power lines near and along South Street, which First Selectman Barbara Henry said is one of the more popular areas.

Henry said that the town is still clearing several downed trees and working with Connecticut Light & Power officials to fix fallen power lines. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, 69 percent of the town remained without power.

However, Henry said residents were faring better this year than the October 2011 snowstorm.

"More people have generators," Henry said. "It's not as cold this time and people are mostly stopping by the senior center to charge their phones and laptops."

Colebrook: Tuesday morning, 10 roads were blocked, and crews had to focus on cleaning up the mess, First Selectman Tom McKeon said. It was hoped that power restoration could begin today, with 84 percent of the town still without power.

New Milford: Mayor Patricia Murphy said about 48 percent of the town was without power, but downtown has electricity. A storm without flooding downtown is considered a win here, so business people Tuesday morning expressed relief they weren't mopping up Housatonic River floodwaters.

Thomaston: Police Chief James Campbell said by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday all roads were open and 100 percent passable. He said less than 500 of the town's 7,500 residents lost power and that was caused by the tops of utility poles being ripped off by the wind. They are mostly in the Hickory Hill Road area, on a hill above town.

Because those residents may remain without power for much of the week, Campbell said, the town's shelter at the fire department is being operated on an as-needed basis. If residents need services they should call police at 860-283-4343 and someone will open the shelter. Campbell said the town is prepared to offer showers, food, water, shelter and electricity to charge cell phones.

Harwinton: Road crews in Harwinton worked Tuesday morning to clear road of fallen trees and downs wires. Hill Road (Route 222) was re-opened at 10:40 a.m. after being closed for 14 hours. Highway Supervisor John D. Fredsall reported that the only road that remained closed is Poland Brook Road off Route 72.

"Hopefully, after lunch, they'll start restoration work. That's what they're telling us," said Fredsall, referring to CL&P. Harwinton remained with 45 percent of the town without power.

Litchfield: First Selectman Leo Paul Jr. and Fire Marshal Thomas O'Hare staffed town's emergency operations center at the Town Hall Annex in Bantam until 11 p.m. Monday and night and were back early Tuesday morning. Joining them was assistant public works supervisor Naomi Boccio.

As of mid-day, 11 roads remained closed due to fallen trees and limbs and downed wired. Nineteen other roads were affected by fallen trees, limbs and wires but were passable. The day's goal, Paul said, was to clear all roads so power could be restored beginning today.

Emergency shelters at the Bantam and Northfield firehouses will remain open until power is nearly fully restored, Paul said, even though only two residents used the Bantam shelter on Monday night and no one stayed at Northfield.

Morris: First Selectman Barbara Bongiolatti, emergency management director Tony Gedraitis and Fire Chief Joel Skilton were overseeing the storm response. The town's highway department was clearing roads Tuesday;, most of the outages were on the west side of town, including Deer Island on Bantam Lake.

Cornwall: First Selectman Gordon M. Ridgway, who is also a member of the town's fire department, said he is very pleased with the response by CL&P. "Best ever," was his assessment. The workers did a lot of preliminary work on Monday along with help from crews from Alabama, who then left to help out in the southern part of the state. Then replacements arrived from Tennessee.

About six roads remained blocked, he said, many in the North Cornwall area. He estimated it would be a few days before everything was open.

Bridgewater: Bridgewater roads were largely clear of large debris as of 9 a.m. Tuesday, though there was evidence of several trees that had fallen across Route 67 between Bridgewater and New Milford, that had already been cleared.

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